]]>What you see above is an actual local news piece from Albuquerque’s KRQE investigating beloved Internet personality Pedobear. What this report alleges is that the character, which was designed to poke fun at pedophiles and their wily attempts to lure children into presenting their bathing suit areas, is actually being reappropriated by pedophiles to lure children into presenting their bathing suit areas. It’s a lot like the U.S. training Al Qaeda when you almost think about it.

I can’t help but feel like I’m walking into a trap here. By all accounts this seems like an honest, straightforward news clip and given the light research I’ve done (asking a guy), this is in fact real. But it just seems so tailor made for Internet ridicule. The earnest cluelessness of the anchors. The empty threats from the Attorney General’s office. The chick up on the roof. It screams put-on but shows no wink, wink. To paraphrase Terri Hatcher, “It’s real. And it’s spectacular.”